Voters have spoken: ignoring the housing crisis and caving to the loudest voices in the room comes with significant political peril.
In a YouGov poll of Connecticut votes released on Nov. 6 , acting to solve the housing crisis with real solutions was found to carry with it are likely to receive a 30 point net favorability boost. In other words, voters are watching Connecticut fail to act on the boiling housing crisis, and (when given the choice), they are voting for leaders who will.
In case you missed it, Connecticut just had an election. While there was much focus on some larger races that flipped seats, let me focus on just a few smaller races that prove this poll result is worth more than the paper it is written on:
- In Fairfield, a town artificially divided over several controversial 8-30g projects, voters decisively backed a pro-housing slate for the Planning and Zoning Commission. The result flipped the board to a Democratic majority and ousted noted NIMBY activist Alexis Harrison, who has long denied the obvious truth: Connecticut has a shortage of homes.
- In Newington, the recently re-elected mayor was accosted while door knocking to do something to improve the housing shortage. Newington has for decades been a “build nothing, deny everything” kind of town. That is no longer politically palatable.
- Manchester: Mayor Jay Moran was just re-elected with 70% of the vote. Why? He has a vision for more housing and a better safer Main Street. A small faction of residents want to cling to the past, have launched petitions, lawsuits, public pressure campaign. And through it all Mayor Moran has not backed down, rather he has stood firm in his vision of a better future and is widely admired for it.
This dynamic extends far beyond Connecticut:
- In New York City, voters approved three ballot measures to speed permitting and construction of new housing.
- In Cambridge, MA, the city council passed a significant reimagination of their city’s zoning in early 2025 to welcome new housing and provide a price relief valve. This election, seven incumbents who passed that reform were re-elected with the vice mayor, the primary champion of that reform receiving the most votes. One of the challengers just elected was a recent college grad who ran on going even further on addressing the housing crisis.
- In Salem, MA all seven candidates who ran on a platform of housing affordability were elected, including 5 first time candidates. This is after the city recently abolished parking mandates for new residential buildings just a few weeks before the election
- Famously anti-development Marin County, CA has a housing zoning ballot measure leading in early vote counting.
There are hundreds of other examples across the country of exactly this dynamic. Politicians who care about housing affordability, housing choice, and can not only articulate it well but act on those beliefs are widely lauded and rewarded with electoral landslides.
I remain struck by a speech recently given by the Governor of North Dakota, Kelly Armstrong at the YIMBYtown conference held in New Haven. There he said, and let me paraphrase: There is a difference between a political discomfort and a political liability. Sure you might get yelled at but society doesn’t work without there being enough housing. You just need to state clearly why it is necessary and pursue it.
If there is one thing both polling and election results is clear about, action taken to solve the housing supply crisis will be handsomely rewarded.
Casey Moran lives in Hartford and co-founded ctparkingreform.org.